National Aeronautics and Space Administration

News about National Aeronautics and Space Administration, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 18, 2015

Photographs of surface of Pluto from NASA's New Horizons mission reveal surprising features and raise many new questions for scientists. MORE

Jul. 16, 2015

Information sent back by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has transformed scientists' understanding of dwarf planet Pluto and offers clues about planet formation; data suggests that Pluto has active plate tectonics and mountains made of water ice. MORE

Jul. 16, 2015

Editorial celebrates success of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft in reaching and delivering images of dwarf planet Pluto; holds arrival is great achievement for United States, as well as boon satisfying inherent human desire for knowledge. MORE

Jul. 14, 2015

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is set to arrive at Pluto after nine and a half years and three billion miles in flight; officials say it is still too early to answer some of mysteries of the dwarf planet. MORE

Jul. 14, 2015

Dennis Overbye Out There column examines report on future of astronomy, commissioned by Assn of Universities for Research in Astronomy, that calls on NASA to initiate plans for next-generation Hubble Space Telescope, to be launched in 2030s; High Definition Space Telescope would be five times as big as Hubble, and large enough to study even small objects anywhere in observable universe. MORE

Jul. 7, 2015

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which is making first ever visit to Pluto, is expected to pass within 7,800 miles of dwarf planet in mid-July; historic voyage is expected to illuminate formerly dark and obscure body. MORE

Jul. 7, 2015

Dennis Overbye Out There column submits NASA's New Horizons voyage to Pluto represents final frontier of exploring major planets in our own solar system, moment that is both exciting and bittersweet; holds sifting of information from completed explorations will yield many new discoveries. MORE

Jun. 29, 2015

NASA says unmanned Falcon 9 rocket heading for International Space Station with cargo disintegrated several minutes after launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida; destruction of SpaceX rocket raises questions on how station will continue to be supplied. MORE

Jun. 19, 2015

National Aeronautics and Space Admin and National Nuclear Security Admin form partnership for planetary defense; will focus on how to better deflect comets and asteroids that might endanger Earth's cities, and perhaps planet as a whole. MORE

Jun. 9, 2015

Test run of NASA's Mars landing system ends in failure after vehicle's parachute malfunctions during descent over Pacific Ocean; system, known as the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator, also failed during debut test in 2014. MORE

Jun. 4, 2015

Pentagon is pushing for end to ban on purchasing Russian rocket engines, which was instituted after Russia annexed Crimea; some in Congress like Sen John McCain, one of Russia's fiercest critics, have been angered by request, and some lawmakers have pressed for ending NASA's reliance on Russia for rocket engines. MORE

May. 26, 2015

Device known as the Venetia Burney Student Dust counter, placed aboard NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, is tasked with measuring amount and density of space dust encountered on journey to dwarf planet; device was created by students at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and may help elucidate activity of Kuiper Belt, icy ring of debris near Neptune. MORE

May. 12, 2015

Study in journal Science, compiled from data from NASA's Messenger spacecraft, finds that Mercury's magnetic field is nearly four billion years old and generated by core flow of liquid iron. MORE

Apr. 28, 2015

NASA engineers are about to see four-year orbit of Messenger spacecraft around Mercury come to a planned end; craft will collide with surface by design, but even its destruction could provide insights by digging into planet's surface on impact; engineers say Messenger mission has provided important scientific findings, many of them unexpected and exciting. MORE

Mar. 27, 2015

Scott J Kelly prepares to depart for yearlong residence on the International Space Station, in what will be the longest space mission a NASA astronaut has ever undertaken; mission will also push him to record of cumulative time spent in space. MORE

Mar. 12, 2015

NASA mission, scheduled for imminent launch, will make first detailed measurements of an area of colliding magnetic fields that sit about 38,000 miles above Earth, in effort to assess any possible disruption of satellites and power grids. MORE

Mar. 7, 2015

Mar. 7, 2015

National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Curiosity Mars rover experiences short circuit, which could limit its drilling of rocks. MORE

Mar. 6, 2015

NASA scientists reporting in journal Science offer convincing new evidence that ancient Mars boasted ocean; say body of water was likely the size of the Arctic ocean, considerably larger than previously estimated. MORE

Mar. 3, 2015

Scientists are hoping that NASA's Dawn mission, which is orbiting asteroid Ceres, will shed light on composition of two reflective white spots on asteroid's surface. MORE

Feb. 9, 2015

NASA aborts launch of Deep Space Climate Observatory due to problem with Air Force radar for tracking rocket to space; spacecraft is meant to act as warning system for solar storms, and was brainchild of former Vice Pres Al Gore. MORE

Jan. 20, 2015

NASA spacecraft are set to arrive at dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto during separate missions in 2015; are expected to provide data that will uncover more information about Pluto and Ceres, as well as origins of universe, and provide fodder for debate over what constitutes a planet. MORE

Jan. 17, 2015

NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration release separate reports showing 2014 was hottest year on Earth since records first started being kept in 1880; data shows heat records were set over large areas of every continent except Antarctica, bolstering many scientists' warnings about risks of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions and refuting assertions by some scientists that global warming has stopped. MORE

Jan. 15, 2015

NASA says American and European crew members on International Space Station were evacuated to Russian area of station twice over concerns of possible ammonia leak that turned out to be faulty computer card. MORE

Dec. 19, 2014

NASA's Kepler spacecraft discovers new 'super-Earth' circling star 180 light years away; planet, about two and a half times size of Earth, is unlivable, at roasting distance of only 8.4 million miles from its sun. MORE

Dec. 6, 2014

NASA successfully launches Orion, its latest spacecraft, into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Fla; capsule lands in Pacific Ocean four and half hours later, just a mile off target; unmanned test is start of what space agency hopes will be new era of human exploration beyond Earth's orbit. MORE

Dec. 5, 2014

NASA postpones first test flight of its Orion spacecraft due to problem with launch rocket’s fuel system. MORE

Dec. 3, 2014

NASA is poised to launch an astronaut capsule beyond Earth's orbit for first time since Apollo 17 returned from the moon in 1972; Orion capsule will be unmanned, but marks first step toward NASA's goal of human exploration in solar system, with first manned mission slated for 2020s. MORE

Oct. 21, 2014

Team of scientists is spending eight months living in dome-shaped building on Hawaiian volcano as part of NASA's Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or Hi-Seas. goal is to examine how well small group of people, isolated from civilization, can get along and work together ahead of possible manned mission to Mars. MORE

Oct. 21, 2014

Kenneth Chang Time Travel column notes that Aero-Space Plane, 17,000-mile-an-hour plane that could circle globe in 90 minutes being developed by NASA in 1980s, still has not become technologically feasible. MORE

Sep. 22, 2014

NASA's Maven spacecraft arrives in Mars's orbit, where it will study mystery of what happened to planet's air; Martian Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution craft will take detailed measurements of Mars's upper atmosphere during mission. MORE

Sep. 17, 2014

NASA announces that Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies Corporation are the winners in the competition to carry American astronauts to the International Space Station; awards reflect a fundamental shift in NASA’s human spaceflight program, relying on private companies rather than the traditional hands-on approach, in which the space agency designed and operated the spacecraft. MORE

Sep. 9, 2014

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, presenting findings of review of its long-running scientific missions, says all seven missions will continue, assuming agency can find money to pay for them; included among missions are Cassini spacecraft's orbit of Saturn and Curiosity's exploration of Mars. MORE

Aug. 1, 2014

NASA announces plans to make oxygen, key ingredient of rocket fuel, on Mars in the coming decade. MORE

Jul. 19, 2014

Op-Ed article by former NASA employee Keith Cowling describes effort to recover International Sun-Earth Explorer-3, or ISEE-3, unmanned spacecraft launched in 1978 and then abandoned to orbit sun after its mission was complete; points to role of crowd-funding in raising money for plan; calls for NASA to reach beyond its traditional funding audience to an engaged citizenry waiting to take part in space exploration. MORE

Jul. 10, 2014

Coalition of engineers trying to lasso an aged but operational NASA space probe may have run into an insurmountable obstacle; tanks once full of nitrogen gas, needed to fire the thrusters, appear to be empty. MORE

Jul. 9, 2014

First part of maneuver to change course of International Sun-Earth Explorer-3, so-called zombie spacecraft launched in 1978, succeeds but then stumbles when thrusters fail to fire properly; group of civilians taking advantage of modern technology is leading effort to bring spacecraft, abandoned by NASA 17 years ago, back into earth's orbit. MORE

Jul. 3, 2014

NASA’s new spacecraft to sniff carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere reaches orbit after launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. MORE

Jun. 30, 2014

NASA is launching Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite in attempt to gain better data on how carbon dioxide moves into and out of atmosphere; data could be key to understanding climate change and how to deal with issue. MORE

Jun. 10, 2014

Panel of experts warns that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has not outlined viable strategy for space flight mission to Mars and that its budgets fall short of task, putting into peril Pres Obama's declarations that astronauts would reach Mars in 2030s; panel recommends that NASA set intermediate milestones while developing clearer strategy. MORE

Apr. 19, 2014

NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer spacecraft crashes into the lunar surface, bringing a successful end to six-month, $280 million study of the moon's atmosphere. MORE

Apr. 8, 2014

Mars rover Opportunity and six other long-lived robotic missions are up for NASA senior review to determine whether they are still producing enough science to justify continued operation; Obama administration's budget proposal for 2015 has allotted little or no money to rovers, causing scientists to question whether NASA has already written off spacecraft. MORE

Apr. 3, 2014

NASA is suspending most contact with Russian space agency officials, underscoring the rapid deterioration of Russian-American ties in the wake of the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea. MORE

Mar. 25, 2014

NASA researchers plan to carry out study of physiological effects of space travel by analyzing effects of 2015 space mission on astronaut Scott Kelly and comparing data to that gathered from Mark Kelly, his identical twin and a retired astronaut; results will become increasingly important as NASA plans longer missions. MORE

Mar. 15, 2014

Jack A Kinzler, who had a decades-long career as NASA's resident Mr Fix-It, dies at age 94; Kinzler's finest hour came in 1973, when a brilliant idea on his part salvaged the $2.5 billion Skylab space station after its heat shield failed. MORE

Feb. 15, 2014

Scientists finally figure out where a Mars rock that looks like a small jelly doughnut came from; rock, with dark red center and white surface, showed up in photograph taken by the NASA’s Opportunity rover; NASA says later photograph shows piece, named Pinnacle Island, broke off and rolled downhill when the rover drove over it in early January. MORE

Jan. 28, 2014

Sending humans into space for long periods of time poses litany of health problems, from swollen head and atrophied limbs to exposure to radiation; proposed NASA mission to send astronauts to Mars some time after 2030, trip that would take 2.5 years, or nearly six time current standard tour, has scientists racing to find solutions. MORE

Jan. 22, 2014

Two government agencies say 2013 was among warmest years in global temperature record, with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ranking it as fourth-warmest year since 1880 and NASA ranking it as seventh-warmest year. MORE

{"type":"article","show_header_text":false,"header":"ARTICLES ABOUT THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION ","query":"(org=\"NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION\" OR org=\"NASA\")","search_query":"(organizations:\"NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION\" OR organizations:\"NASA\")","num_search_articles":"10","show_summary":true,"show_byline":true,"show_pub_date":true,"hide_thumbnails":false,"show_kicker":false,"show_title":false,"show_related_topics":true,"show_rad_links":true,"show_subtopics":true,"exclude_topics":"NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION; NASA","more_on_header":"MORE ON NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION AND:","alternate_index_subidx":"","show_thumbnails":true}